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1,000 area seniors beds don't meet standards
Surrey North Delta Leader
Senior care closure protested
By Tom Fletcher - BC Local News
Published: November 25, 2008 1:28 PM
Updated: November 25, 2008 5:13 PM
Seniors from a Surrey care home staged a noon-hour protest at the B.C. legislature Tuesday, after they were told that more than half of the facility's beds are closing because they don't meet provincial standards.
The society that runs Zion Park Manor in Cloverdale was faced with a $15 million bill to upgrade space for 77 beds, where rooms are too small and hallways too narrow for wheelchairs and patient lifts. The closure is expected to take effect in July 2009, with residents moving to other facilities in the Fraser Health Authority.
The protest was organized by the NDP, which also campaigned against the closure of Cowichan Lodge on Vancouver Island earlier this year. NDP seniors critic Guy Gentner said both facilities are adequate for providing care, and when beds are closed, seniors may end up in acute care hospital beds that cost as much as $2,000 a day.
Health Minister George Abbott said the deficiencies at Zion Park Manor are clear, and the Lutheran Senior Citizens' Housing Society made the decision to close a wing because it is too expensive to upgrade. Problems include inadequate balcony railings and an elevator that is not secure, creating a hazard for patients with dementia.
"The bedrooms, for example, are not large enough that one could bring portable oxygen in if it was required," Abbott said.
The health ministry says that by the time the Zion Park spaces close, there will six residential care facilities with 586 funded beds within 20 minutes of Zion Park.
